Welcome to the Soul Society! An RP based in a Bleach Alternative Universe, this time around is a little different. For the time being, you, the writer, will be playing as a Shinigami Academy Cadet! With the site still new in its opening, we welcome you!

Located beneath the Academy and easily one of its largest rooms, The Hohou training grounds house a track that spans the length or around 4 miles, Students may train their distance running skills here. The interior of the track houses several different obstacle courses, ranging from traditional obstacles and barricades, to areas that are modeled after forests and even the cities of Human World.

Fighting is not encouraged here, but it is an acceptable training area.

Track 2. This was where the Hohou class was to be held. As Kaonashi made her way to the small group where the instructor of the class was giving the others their instructions. Twenty laps, weights needed, just focus on avoiding the obstacles. A click of the tongue under her mask and Kaonashi looked down at her shoes and hummed before stepping up to take hold of the wrist and ankle weights that the woman -- Sarah -- had made a crater with. They were...heavy, so to say. But it didn't deter her as she went out on with strapping them onto her body. The first step was harsh once they were on -- and it should be, admittedly, with how she dressed underneath her uniform. Regardless, Kaonashi took a few testing steps in circles -- seven in total, to be exact, as she went out of her way to ensure that she could not only walk, but actually take a few jogging steps by the fourth circle round the grass as she let her head turn to scan the track that she'd be going through. It was impractical to try running in these shoes, but...There was the idea that had been given to her by the instructor -- don't focus on impractical obstacles, just...get running, right?

Alright, then she needed to get running.

With a soft hum, Kaonashi took a step onto the start of the path and looked ahead. It was great to not be human in this scenario -- running in such heavy clothing could be detrimental to her health in almost any other case. With a crack of the neck, she took one step forward, and took the time to think back to what her teacher said. Step one, and she was aware of the heavy sensation that those weights added. It was like...there was a person on both her arms and her legs as she grimaced and took a deep breath. Just a straightforward run for the first round of the track...Not too bad. Couldn't be too bad. She finally took off running, noticing that her speed was...rather poor in comparison to how it was before. There had to be an easier way than this. How could she make this work-

Wait...She'd just been to a lesson to control her own Reiatsu. ...Reiatsu was in her body. If she could control it in her body, could she make herself go faster? Could she make these weights seem lighter -- even as they seemingly became better as she moved -- than they were now? Focus. Patience. Control. The three distinct things that led into one another that could make such a possibility -- and why not give it a shot? Beginning classes were meant to learn how to do these things, so she'd get to it for the sake of meeting up with Jin after she'd done it right.

The focus into her legs nearly threw her off-balance at first, but the swift transition made it easier to run. Made her faster with running. Made her better.

Could she run until her heart gave out?

With a soft laugh, Kaonashi was off like a bat out of hell. No thinking, only moving. No worries, only seeing. Get out the way of obstacles in the mind, and the body would surely follow as she zoomed through the straightforward beginning and ducked into the maze-like pattern that the instructor had mentioned. Swerves and turns came smoothly, naturally, and the masked woman was out of the maze -- and the first one to do it while she was at it, in the meantime. How the hell could she move so fast in those geta? Didn't matter, had to keep going!

Off to the third section! The hurdles were higher than normal ones? She'd be lost in the dark if asked for a memory-comparison. Instead of worrying about that, she took her creative little idea and went with it as best she could. If she couldn't jump over them as easily with her current jumping skill, why not boost it? A focus on that Reiatsu and she cleared the first hurdle like a damned rabbit. It was like jumping off a trampoline, and quite fun at that! A sweet laugh came with the running and she was actually GLAD for the choice of height-boosting shoes now! By the end of the hurdles, she actually stumbled for a moment from the sudden shift from jumping so much to having to think on the fly of how to get through the strange walls. Rolling underneath them would make her momentum stop...How could she get around that- ...wait a minute.

She didn't have to stop her momentum. She just needed to speed it up!

And she did just that, taking steps and making them better for her by lowering her body and letting the speed of her run send her sliding when she turned her body to the side and ducked under to duck into the gaps underneath the walls and high-tail her ass to the start and keep going.

One round down, nineteen to go. No need to stop if she wasn't tired.~ The faster she went, the faster she could find Jin, and the faster she could lavish him with her affections.

Alternatively, the quicker she'd be free to break into his room again and have her way with her "husband".

Track two was where the Hohou class was. Why did she choose this above other classes?

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Yes, this was a concern for her. But compared to the lessons including the bokken and learning how to use her reiatsu, running seemed like the better option for the Minstrel. She was one of the last few to trickle in alongside the woman with a mask. It seemed odd that someone had to have a mask. But the crater that Sarah had made with the weights made her eyes widen just slight. But otherwise, the woman made well to avoid showing her expression, if she could help it. Then her gaze turned to look at the rest of the track. ... And probably paled slightly.

She never was much a runner.

But she grabbed the leg weights, putting them on first. Over the dark-leathered boots, hiding laces and latches. The division she had decided herself into was a specialty division. So, she'd work her way into two specialties. She had listened close to the announcements this morning, so she found that Kido would be the other lesson she went into regularly. Her arms rolled before she put on the weights for her wrist, which almost immediately dragged her to the ground. Gritting her teeth, she adjusted her limpy body to straighten up then move around.

It probably would have been a better idea to take some R&R at the weights room for some lifts, it seems. But she was too far now to really just simply wimp out and walk away from the whole ordeal as a whole. So, she began walking. If this was going to build speed and stamina, it'd have helped her before she passed on. Damned bear.

But it also wasn't the bear's fault, it was mine and Minstrel's, too. That thought was bitter when it ran through her mind. Shaking it away after a bit of walking, she found that the weights didn't exactly drag her down anymore. Adjusting.

She settled into a steady jog when it came to the straight portion of the track. She had a base knowledge on how to use her reiatsu to give an added jump to her step, but... how to execute it. As she thought, her jogging turned into an easy-paced run, the fastest she could manage in her human life as she aimed herself now for the maze of metal boards. Not forcing herself to worry on dodging and weaving? Hard, when one was mostly an indoor-girl and taking care of an animal of flight most of her early life. She wondered how that owl was doing now...

This simple strand of thought allowed her mindlessly dance around within the maze, twirling and dodging around the boards, even using her reiatsu to do a sprint-jump over the boards that were purposefully blocking her path. Those, she did have to focus intently on, as her soft-colored reiatsu, compared to her dark wardrobe, flickered at a constant. She wasn't as graceful as she could have been with the jumps, but they would have to do for now, until she could get to the next session of the Reiatsu basics. She nearly fell each time, but by the last jump, she had a better solid landing with her landing with her hands on the ground, one knee down and the other boot tucked securely against the ground.

She sprung up like a jack in the box: goth edition, and scamper to the final course. Yes, scamper. That was what the weights did to her. Seeing the other students at the third sect of the course, she did something that her father and mother and her had done often on the sandy beaches near where they had lived. Making herself tumble foward into a roll, the curve helped in lining her up for the holes as she rolled sideways through the only clear-able sections of walls. The momentum slowed in definence for the Minstrel, but how she cleared it was probably one of the more amusing bits for anyone to see from her. By the fifteenth hole, she barely had the momentum left. And the course was rough, making her grumble soft as she got to her feet again.

Nineteen more times? Oh, this was going to be a definite two-shower day. Picking up her speed again, she prepared to dance through the metal walls once more.

One lap went by quickly. As she ran, as those weights became something of a second skin for her, Kaonashi had passed ten in the blink of an eye -- near-literally, for some of the students still stuck in their single digits. She blazed by like a demon, intent on finishing before the sun fell down and the night kissed at her senses.

And that was why she kept pushing, kept moving, embracing the sound of one's blood flowing through her veins and resonating in sound of her ears with each step pushed forwards, and with the ever-present threat of tripping over herself something she placed in the back of her mind as she went onwards with her speed training. If this was what she'd have to do every day, so be it. She was alright with it -- it made it easier for her to go find him.

The eventual slowdown that she should have experienced never came. Instead, she only came to a stop and a need to rest after the harsh decline of adrenaline in her veins after the twentieth lap was finished. How badly she wanted to take off her mask, let cool air hit her skin, shrug off her uniform-

Ah. Wait. Her eyes. Her eyes were too scary for that.

But why was that? She couldn't remember...

With the subtle shake of her head, Kaonashi finally took a deep breath and began to take the weights off. The craters they made upon being tossed to the side could only indicate the "freedom" her arms and legs felt from being released of their burdens. Now...Oh. Well. There was the giving of her legs. A small motion to try and lift those appendages only resulted in her tilting her head back and sighing softly as they refused to cooperate. She probably should have slowed down...Oh well. It'd only take a minute to fix herself up and get better, hopefully.

Missing an explanation from an instructor... probably could cause trouble. Then again, it was pretty simple to see how it all worked. Running in a circle should not be confusing for most. There were obviously obstacles to deal with, and it was plain to see how people were dealing with the hurdles and the bottomless walls. What stood out most, though, were two unusual women. One wore a mask with somewhat red eyes. The other had a deep black hair with a color that seemed to shift with the light and eyes that seemed rather feline. Cats... put him on edge. He liked them, but he just seemed to clash with them, or the more feline sort.

Janza was ready to get started when he saw the weights. He was starting to hate the weights. To him it was an instinctual reaction. He had always been a runner; he would not have survived if he wasn't able to run. But, running with weights was another thing. Instincts shouted loudly to not impede movement in any way. Instructions said another thing entirely.

Oh well, gonna have to deal. The weights made him feel trapped, imprisoned. His freedom felt impugned upon. For only the briefest moment, it bothered him, but he had learned from a difficult life of survival how to adapt. He pushed most thoughts out of his mind. It was time to operate on an instinctual level.

Taking off at a pace a step or two below a sprint, he was like a bat out of hell. Before he knew it, he had passed the maze with barely a break in his speed. Everything seemed new and exciting. For the first time in recent memory, he had the energy to fully back up his activities. What a wonder it was to not have to struggle with very near starvation. The hurdles were rapidly approaching. From watching other people, he knew that they weren't moving or jumping in a normal matter. This meant one of two things: either they were far different than he realized, or they were using something to boost their abilities. Believing in the latter, he decided to let his energy pore out to a certain degree. It wasn't focused by any stretch of the imagination, not even close. But, it provided him with enough to clear the hurdles. While moving at a rapid pace, he was able to plant his feet slightly behind/in front of the other and clear the hurdle with slight room to spare.

Next were those bottomless walls with a small amount of room underneath. If he took it slowly, it would be much more difficult to make his way through without getting stuck due to the weights. Without dropping his speed, he dropped to his side keeping most of his momentum as he continued to roll underneath.

There was two things he learned from the first lap. First of all was that it was annoying to move with any amount of extra weight added to himself. Second thing was that he knew he wouldn't be able to keep up as fast of a pace as he had been moving at without wearing himself out before the last lap.

He slipped into a partial zen state as he moved around the track for the second time. It was by no means a perfect solution, but it helped him to avoid external and internal distractions. If not, he would have completely felt the full exhaustive result of this course somewhere between the 12th and 16th lap. He started to slow down slightly up through the 19th lap, but the last lap triggered in his mind that he was almost done. The pace shot up to a sprint, and before long he was at the finish lane. Slipping out of the zen state meant that he felt each ache and pain as if it was magnified. Not to say it was a bad kind of ache, but it was nearly overwhelming. Grabbing a bottle of water he moved over to a shady tree. Everything throughout the body sighed in relief, and his mind settled into a relaxed state watching as the rest of the class ran the course.

Not even remotely. The amble speed that Minstrel had settled into was enough for her to get used to the weights. There was no way that, in one lesson, she could become Sonic and zoom around. Izanami had that under the hood, already.

But she did want to become faster to be able to help the future teammates that she would run into. Body shifted, eyes narrowed after about the nineth lap. She was growing tired. But using her Reiatsu, she could keep going... barely, but she did. Little did the girl know, she was going to soon become one of the last ones to finish. Oh well.

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Several other laps later. Done. Finally bloody done. THe woman fell to her knees, powersliding under the last walls. And then stayed there for several long minutes. Taking so long to undo the weights... Her muscles were screaming in pain. Along with her head. Eyes narrowed, then hands moved to cover over her head. And groan out.

God I hate this course. She cursed in her mind, though she would struggle up to her feet. Ripping off the weights and throwing them limply into the box. And then she moved. Walking... a groan escaped her. Of course, among the first, one of the guys was under the trees. Her brows lifted up curiously, but hey... it couldn't hurt to go say hello, could it?

Walking over, she would heavily drop to the ground, sitting. And her lips pulled to a smile, holding out a hand. Her eyes weren't like a cat's, though the color was similar. Minstrel was more akin to an owl if anything. Were the male not to accept her hand in a shake, it wouldn't bother the mute none. She hadn't brought her kit with her to write messages on, so she had to rely on body language.

What was this? Somebody was actually relaxed?!? Honestly, when struggling to keep ahead of trouble, it was an unusual thing. What truly interested Janza was that he didn't tense up as this girl approached his resting place and actually sat down right next to him. She had her hand held out in an expectant manner.

Social conventions would naturally say he should shake her hand, but a mischievous voice in his mind had other things in mind. Instead of taking her hand, he handed her his water bottle. He couldn't help but smiling silently laughing, and thanks to the scarf covering his mouth, she might not be able to tell.

Turning his sight to nowhere in particular, he reached into a hidden pocket and produced two apples. He started chewing, almost nibbling, his apple quietly. The last of his apples was held out without looking for the girl sitting next to him.

While silence was a poor option to speak to others, it was the best she could do.

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Was there any other reason to not be relaxed? Oh well. The girl gave more or less an awkward smile towards him, before accepting the waterbottle. Hey, he's the one who gave it -- nah, she wasn't that rude. After a muted chuckle, she would let herself relax back onto a hand after twisting the top to her waterbottle off. And sipping, though she wanted more than that. It'd have to do until she could feel her feet again.

It was enough time that she nearly didn't notice that there was an apple he had held out towards her. She accepted the offering, biting into it with a faint crunch. Right into the skin, and she had taken a sizeable chunk out. But nibbling on one end of said chunk, taking bit by bit into her mouth, swallowing in intervals. A habit she had carried from her old life, perhaps? Maybe. There was a ghost of a smile on her lips though. How could she say thankyou?

Everyone here seemed to be so absorbed in their selves, so lost in an ocean of their own narcissism that they couldn't see what was right in front of them. Arrogance, overconfidence, and ignorance were just a few of them. Many of the self-important types had to make SURE that you knew their names as if it should immediately mean something. Their world... it was everything. Those were the sort that put him on edge.

It was nice to be able to relax... to not have to worry about somebody, or at least deal with that stuff. Eventually it got to be a bit exhausting. For somebody that was perpetually exhausted from staying on edge, it meant the world.

"I have to thank you. You are the first person to relax with me, and seem genuinely friendly. Haven't been around that..." He breathed in and exhaled slowly. As a show of rare respect he said, "My name is Janza. It is nice to meet you.

"Umm... I guess I should ask your name?" Juice from the apple trickled slowly down the side of his mouth.

Waiting for some response, his eyes sort of locked on to hers. Something about those eyes. He nodded as if in answer to something that only he knew.

Well... if she had known she was going to be talking on a nice day, she would have specifically brought her notepad and quill along for the ride. But that's in the past now. So she took to writing in the dirt.

My name is Minstrel. That's what was in the dirt underneath the tree between the two of them when she moved her finger away. She took another bite out of the apple, though not before licking the corner of her mouth to keep from having apple juice dribble down the corner of her mouth. After a few moments, she erased the message on the ground, only to scribble again. It is nice to meet you, Janza.

What else could she write into the ground? While thinking about that, the tawny-colored eyes that she sported lifted up, as to stare at him curiously. There were nothing wrong with her eyes, save that they resembled the gold-brown-gray-black colors of her owl when she was alive so long ago.

((Apparently we are underground, but I'm just gonna go with it lol. Some of the tracks have trees and all.))

"Minstrel like a bard? What do you play?" Janza forgot his self for a moment. Then it struck him. "I'm sorry. I have been a bit rude. Civilized chat.... it's never been a major part of my life."

He fell back against the the trunk, the bark biting into his back. Biting into the apple, he savored the juice on his tongue as he contemplated... well... everything and anything. He traced some imaginary lines in front of him. It was interesting see people train here. It was even more interesting, and almost funny, seeing how intense they were about it.

A slight sigh escaped his lips as he took a small bite from the apple, chewing carefully. "You know, your eyes make me think of summer... of freedom. Just a random thought." He took an embarrassed breath. "I'm sorry." He smiled sheepishly at her through his scarf.

Takezo rumbled around the track, putting a decent dent into the its four mile length at his own pace. Typically distance running wasn't his strong suit, but today... today was different.

Apprently, he had made a few people angry... namely a few instructors when he had nonchalantly taken a training orb for 'personal use'. Yea maybe they would have let it go if he had actually used it on his own. Running down the hallway and using the reiatsu sheild to run over the students as he went... not so much.

So that brought him to his current predicament. The track was a large enough room to hide in for the moment, and given enough time maybe cooler heads would prove more open to discussion. Regardless of the outcome, for now he would run.

Rounding a last turn, he came across two students. Taking a break from their training no doubt. One was a young girl, in a peculiar outfit, the other a grown man.

he came to a stop for a moment, his arms and legs still pumping as he talked, while his movement down the track may have ended he still had a good deal of time to waste.

"Hello there you two, hows it hanging?" Takezo said, smiling widely as he continued to run in place.

"You two wouldnt have happened to see an instructor run by would you?"

Back in life, her eyes were a warm chocolate brown. But with how they died, they got dhiluted, marked forever with the color of her owl's colors. The woman gave a shrug before scribbling on the ground once more. I play the violin. And yes, a bard.

Her head turned, watching the others run on the track. But it was starting to wind down now as more and more were coming off. She herself got done in an actual good time. It was a miracle. But man did her muscles hurt for it. Another bite of the apple, chewing. It was more a thoughtful chew before both brows rose up in surprise upon seeing a man run up to them... and keep running.

People actually did that? Huh. Her gaze narrowed skeptically, squinting right at him for several long minutes before her shoulders moved in a shrug. Not that bad, really... and no, I have not.

What did he do to make the instructors upset with him? She was curious, enough so that she was scraping away the scribbling within the dirt and getting up to her feet, wiping any excess off her skirt. Hum... now that she thought about it, it would be a good time to get to another class to round off the week.

It took several minutes, but Takezo ended up coaxing a response out of the young woman. Alibiet in a fashion that he didnt expect.

She wrote her answer in the dirt.

Looking from the woman, to the black haired man, and back to the written message. His shrugged and stopped pace running. An exit wasn't a priority with instructors not around. Unless of course she was lying.

Well, she wasnt the only quirky type he had met so far. Anira and Izanami had their own weirdness about them, and he had swore he had saw the former running the track earlier, but now she was nowhere to be seen.

"goood good." Takezo finally answered, having been lost in thought for a few moments.

"My names Takezo Murata, nice to meet you two." He continued, introducing himself seemed the next important step here and he needed a break regardless. He smiled widely again and scratched the back of his head, a nervous habit he had when meeting new people.

"Nice. I play guitar." Before he could say more, a new person was approaching. The new guy was by no means threatening, but Janza's hidden smile slowly slipped away.

Following suit, he stood up as well. The demeanor of this man was interesting. Considering their exchange, and the body language of this Takezo, he was either a bit hyper or a bit nervous. But he stopped running when Minstrel said that she had not seen an instructor around. Would it be wrong for Janza to burst that bubble? Of course not... was the vague thought lurking somewhere in the back of his mind.

A hidden, mischievous grin spread before he said, "Actually, that is the instructor sitting in a seat over there, I think." Janza half gestured with his eyes.

He let the possible gravity of his words sink in for a little bit. Being one that usually was on the other side of possibly angering authority figures, this was rather refreshing to actually watch instead of experience. With two more silent bites finishing apple, he let his gaze shift away from the new guy.

The apple seeds were quickly stashed away in a secret pocket for later planting. Wiping the sticky apple juice onto his pants, a silent sigh of contentment remained unheard.

"If you are trying to fly under the radar, your best bet could be to actually stay near the instructor. Don't run too fast, don't run too slow." He licked his lips of the remaining apple juice. Delicious! "Oh, and I am Janza. Nice to meet you."

His voice dropped to a low whisper, barely audible over the sound of running, struggling, grunting students, for Minstrel. "Seems you can walk now. Let me know if you ever need help." He turned for the exit.

"I'm headed to one of the zanjutsu training areas to wind down. See ya later."

With her legs finally ready to take on the burden of supporting her body, Kaonashi was about ready to go and run another lap or two as the others finally arrived and panted, squirmed, writhed. All like little ants trying to get out of the heat of the sun...A soft sigh and she stretched her arms out prior to turning her gaze to the exit with a nagging sensation in he head. What was it that bothered her so?... Stepping forward, that nagging feeling slowly turned into the insatiable need to go and correct something. But what was that something involving...? Someone important, someone that seemed to be harmed...?

Pluto?

Well, she needed to go if that was the problem nagging at her. Without a word to the instructor now that she had finished her laps, and the returning of the weights on her body, she opted right out to go and head off to find her Husband in order to check upon him. She had a job to do, and that involved taking care of whatever might be ailing him for the moment.

Hurs entered the gym like Hohou training room. He nodded as he looked around. Ever since he had sluggishly awoken from the events of what had happened at the bar, he decided it was time to get into shape. This certainly fit the mood for the beginning of his rise to glory and power... but first a few pushups.

After the first 50, he was heaving and straining using reiatsu to somewhat keep him in the proper mindset. Seriously? This was all he could muster?!! Unacceptable! He had to continue pushing. He would stay down here until he was in some form of passable shape. After 40 minutes of cranking out more pushups, he had decided that this was serious bullshit. How could he be so weak? He had seen kids beat that number in Rukongai barely out of diapers. Giving that exercise an honorary hand gesture he decided to move on to the obstacle course. Maybe he was the type to have speed rather than strength.

He was going to go through ALL of it in one go. He had heard about how incredibly expansive and diverse the courses were, so he had brought a pack of goodies and food in case this was going to take a bit longer than he had anticipated...

The first track didn't seem like much. He pushed off and ran back and forth down it, testing his speed and cardio. Well, at least that wasn't too bad. He then tried the first set of hurdles... FAILURE!!

Hurs kicked a few down in frustration and took a few breaths to calm himself.

"I SHOULD BE ABLE TO BEAST THIS!"

He yelled as other students merrily passed him... he then charged angrily at the course again.

*****HOURS PASS*****

Hurs crawled out of the wooded obstacle area after several laps towards the exit. He was done.

After Kaya's close run in with the huge thug of the pact in the bar he decided that more training wouldn't hurt especially if it meant less headaches. Kaya began his training by doing what he was best at, running. After the first 10 laps Kaya began running with hurdles passing most of them except the last, for some reason he was never able to really nail the end. After 25 more Kaya dragged himself over to the corner and began working on his upper body doing about 50 sit ups before giving up from exhaustion.

As Kaya laid on the ground breathing heavily from the exercise he noticed Hurs by the corner of his eye doing similar exercises, normally he would greet him but he was way too tired mentally(from the night before) and now physically from working out while being wounded. Kaya wasn't sure what happened in that bar but whatever it was it had motivated him. Kaya would usually keep away from training as much as possible especially if he was wounded, but today he really didn't mind pushing himself. Maybe getting knocked around had helped him out bit in the motivation department.